12 Questions with Andy Sowerby - Magazine Issue02

Andy Sowerby is a selected and featured artist in Al-Tiba9 magazine ISSUE02, interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj about his photographic project THE FROZEN PEOPLE.

Sowerby’s films often alternate between narrative, story-driven, abstract or expressive work following his instincts, Whether searching through video archives, collaborating with writers and actors, or experimenting with abstractions of light, he’s always starting his process of discovery from varied points. Sometimes it’s a technique, a competition or theme he examines. He’s comfortable working in the abstract realm and leaving space for personal interpretation.

Please describe the intention behind your art. How do you successfully express this intention?

My main intentions are to evoke an emotion in the viewer, deliver something experiential and ideally create a story that resonates with people. If I can do any one of those things I’ll be happy. Beyond that, I enjoy trying to push my creative boundaries by experimenting with different techniques. I express this intention by creating work that moves people. To do this my primary aim is to forge a connection between the viewer and the subject matter. This could be either the characters in the film or, if the work is abstract, then I hope the viewer connects and reacts to the entire aesthetic.

Can you talk a little about your formative years as an artist?

My “art life” began at school when we got a new art teacher who inspired me to move beyond conventional representation, as we had been previously taught and embrace expressionism and abstraction. After this, I applied to an art foundation course at Bournemouth University, UK. During this course, we did a short film workshop and this excited me so much that I made it my focus for the rest of the year and subsequently applied to film schools across the country. I got accepted into the film school in Newport, UK. There my graduation film ‘Light + Sound’ won a couple of awards and screened internationally. After that, I eventually moved to London and began working within the film industry, and then, as they say, the rest is history…

Your work has an impact on how time is related to our choice. Time can be perceived on many different scales depending on our perception of things. It can define our personality, our image, and identity - like you are showing with your series of dynamic/static portraits. What inspired this artistic expression?

I was working on ideas for an entry for a competition, with the limitation of only using the public domain clips available from the Pond5 Public Domain Project. As I was researching the archive I was scrolling down the pages and saw all these faces staring out at me. I noticed the faces were frozen until I hover my mouse over them and press play when they would suddenly spring to life. The idea for the concept, especially the flickering of the images in my film, came very quickly inspired by my initial reaction to the archive. I then developed the voice over and it got me thinking: What does it mean to take a photograph? What is the purpose of documenting? When does it end?

Where did you get your imagery from (What, if any, sources did you use)?

For ‘The Frozen People’ I found all the images in the Pond5 Public Domain Project, as this was stipulated by the competition as mentioned above. I often enter competitions as I enjoy working within set parameters. I find it pushes me into new areas of exploration that I wouldn’t necessarily have chosen. There is something to be said for creativity under ‘restraint’, I find it requires a level of ingenuity and resourcefulness, it’s all about having an original reaction and being able to realize ideas quickly.

Your work is very visual, plays with the composition of the images and videos. What I find personally most compelling though, is that you split the dimension of time with these black and white portraits, which capture strong expressions that invite the viewer to dig deeper in people’s memory (the past), but then you project them in another dimension (actual present) by making all of them “The Frozen People”. Can you talk about that?

It’s fascinating to read your take on the film and what you took away from it. I think a lot of this comes from the subjective nature of time and memory. I guess by bringing the viewer’s attention to the fact of the people’s death (in the past) I hopefully get the viewer to contemplate their past, present and their future and even their eventual death? Hopefully, raising questions about what might happen to them after their death? What might happen to the images of them? Will their image be resurrected one day, to create a connection across time?

Your production includes a specific portrait selection process. How would you describe that process to our readers?

My selection process was broad at first, selecting all portraits I could find in the archive, especially looking for strong faces and expressions. Then to narrow it down, I went through an intuitive process where I watched the portrait clips and if I felt an emotion, which could be sadness or happiness or anything else, then I would select that clip. In this process, and most film editing, you as the editor have to act as a surrogate audience and gauge your responses to the film with that hope that the audience will have a similar response.

The first image of the film I always find particularly striking as the light catches the man’s glasses and you cannot see his eyes. I feel it creates something almost otherworldly and intriguing at the start of the film. Then I believe many of the portraits are made more dramatic as they are looking down the lens, right at the viewer. This direct connection between audience and subject is something quite uncommon in films and the rarity makes it striking.

Your questioning about the sociological sense of freedom, politics, and religion has a direct impact on the way you construct your artistic production. Could you tell us about your artistic research of being frozen then unfrozen, free to move once again? Can your art go through political and religious paths to reach the truth? How far can you go with your art?

To be honest, I didn’t do any research for this project. I only had a few days to make this film as the deadline for the competition was imminent, and I had used much of my previous time working on unused ideas. The conception and production of the work were done quickly, in quite an intuitive way. There was no direct political or religious angle for the work. If there is anything in it for the viewer then I feel that is coming from their subjective viewpoint on the work and the world.

As for the actual idea of being frozen and unfrozen, I’m only referring to it in the sense of their image being unfrozen but through the connection, the viewer makes to the person in the photo perhaps that person is in some way unfrozen and their “soul” becomes alive again, even if only for the briefest moment. I’m not stating anything specific about the existence of life after death, but that might come from the viewers’ beliefs or experiences. In my opinion, all art is highly subjective and so much of how we engage with art, and all the world around us is built on our experiences and self-beliefs.

What was the main influence on your work or how it was made?

I can’t say there was any direct influence I drew from consciously. I guess I could say the main influence was the material itself. I just worked intuitively with material intending to evoke emotion in the audience and raise questions of time, photography and mortality.

They say if you could be anything but an artist, don’t be an artist. What career are you neglecting right now by being an artist?

Probably being a musician, but that’s an artist too. So if I have to be something else then maybe a pilot like my father was. I think the idea of soaring above the clouds is still quite romantic and beautiful. Amazingly, humans can fly.

What project are you currently working on?

I’ve just finished a short film based around a painter on the last day on Earth, which I’m finalizing right now. I’ve also got some other ideas for short drama films, and I’m working on scripts for these. I’m also working on a collaboration with a musician to create an installation and performance that explore the different layers of our skin, its cycles of regeneration, and its reactive tendencies such as infection and abrasions.

What is your favorite genre of music to listen to while working?

I listen to a lot of different music generally but when working I usually listen to instrumental ambient, minimal or electronic musicians and also film soundtracks which I often find especially emotive and good to work to.

Do you have any upcoming shows or collaborations?

My short film The Jump is showing at Court Métrage Festival 2018, France.